It's good to have options

We left Boston, spent a night in a nice calm spot on the way south, and then had a decision to make.  We wanted to head west to City Island to pick up our new Asymmetrical Spinnaker, and have time to test it out before heading south for the winter,  but the winds typically come from the south west so getting there was going to be a challenge. In addition, we were trying to plan timing to stop at Block Island, and have our friend John come out and spend some time with us.

We decided to head to Block Island first, and the weather looked good, and fit Johns timing.  We rented bikes, rode around part of the island, saw some sights, had some good meals, and enjoyed Johns company.

South lighthouse

Through the Cape Cod Canal, and on to Boston

 We finally left Newport, and with some good winds had a nice sail to a little place called Onset.  Anchored in Onset Bay for a couple of nights.  Onset is special, because it is a nice anchorage right before the Cape Cod Canal.   Current through the canal can be quite strong, so you need to time the passage, at least we do, if we don't want to fight the current with our small engines.

Onset Bay, boats on moorings.  Look at that calm water.

Newport Rhode Island - over a week in one place

 We got to Newport on July 19th.  We plan to leave on the 30th.  That is 10 full days at anchor - why so long?  - parts.  

Had some mail sent, and found a shop to custom make a piece of stainless for us to mount our winch on for the new asymmetrical spinnaker we have ordered.   The shop needed some time, so that meant we would hang around for a week at least.    

That mirror like finish on the stainless won't last forever, but it is pretty right now.

We have enjoyed Newport.  The anchorage is crowded, which we don't like, but watching boats has been entertaining.  While we have been here we have taken a couple of walks.  One was the Cliff walk, which is a walk around the waters edge, from up high (hence cliff).  It goes by some mansions, and has some paved places, some rock, and some gravel.   It was a hot day when we walked it, but did enjoy it.

Map of Cliff Walk

A small home visible on the walk - now a college

Another small place

Nice bay, with more "small" homes

Tunnel we had to walk through

Nice sunny day

Not a sandy beach, lots of large rocks

We also walked in town a bit.  Lots of historic homes.

Typical historic house

Much larger historic house

Had lunch at Garys.  Good burgers and nice atmosphere - and not the over nautical typical tourist fare.

 

360 View of the anchorage.  Sorry it is jerky, it was a bouncy wave day

Newport Bridge at night looks nice

Old Saybrook, Newport Rhode Island

We left New Haven in a slighty foggy morning, and motored to Old Saybrook. It was a bit of a tense motor. Even though we have AIS (Automatic Identification System) on board, not all boats use it. So even though we can electronically see some boats, we can't see all boats as we don't have radar. 

We have thought about getting radar, but it is just one of those expenses that has low use, but really high priority when you need it.       At times we could only see about 1/4 mile visibility.

Tropical Storm Elsa, 10 mile walk

 We left Bridgeport and motored over to the town of Stratford.  We had anchored there back in What If, but the weather was different enough this time, that the anchorage was not that pleasant if there was any wind at all.  The current through the river was quite strong, and the wind was opposite, so we "sailed" at anchor, with the wind coming from the stern, and the current from the bow, swinging through a 90 degree arc, and pulling hard on our anchor chain, which was running under the boat.   

We were going to spend a few days, but decided with Tropical Storm Elsa coming, that the anchorage would not be safe, so we sailed south to Port Jefferson Harbor and anchored near Old Field Point Beach.

Northport Bay, Fireworks, Bridgeport but NO Super Duper Weenie

 

Please note:  New tracking system.  Click on the "Where is Charm" link to follow us.

We moved from the Coast Guard Station anchorage to a spot closer to town, as we had packages waiting for us at an Amazon locker hub.   Unfortunately the anchorage area is way out in the bay, as Northport bay is quite full of moorings.   I took a nice 360 photo of the area, but technical difficulties prevent me from including it.  (Don't know what happened to it, I think it was an age failure)   In addition, the anchorage was quite bouncy from passing boat wakes.   With a catamaran, short choppy wakes from the beam (side) are the worst, as the two hulls fight each other going up and down.  That what we were getting.  After two days, we hoisted anchor and moved to a much quieter spot.  Longer dinghy ride to town, but well worth it.

We had the place to ourselves, until the weekend, when lots more boats came in.

Cape May NJ to Port Washington, NY

We left Cape May around 3:00 on Friday June 18th, as the winds were predicted to be around 12-15 out of the south for the next 24 hours.   Leaving at 3:00 put us in New York Harbor around 11:30, timed to head thru the area called Hells Gate with the current.   Currents run around 3 knots, so you definitely want to time the trip.    Planning a trip like this is a bit of guesswork.  Will the wind hold?  Will we do more than 6 knots?  

We left with our full main up, and jib, planning on the 15 knots.  We exited the breakwater at Cape May, and struggled to steer the boat, as the 3 foot waves predicted, were actually 5 to 7 foot waves, and the wind was 25 knots, not 15.   We quickly put in two reefs in our main, and the boat settled down, and we were off, doing 8 to 10 knots with a comfortable ride.   We held this until somewhere off the coast of New Jersey around 3:00 in the morning, when the winds started to die, and shift a bit.    We took out our reefs, but timing wise, were going to be about 3 hours early for the current in New York.  No issues, we just sailed slowly for a while, in virtually no wind, and ended up with the timing working out.